Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Down 5.2% – Here’s What Happened

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s share price traded down 5.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $166.66 and last traded at $167.7030. 2,171,396 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 9,789,837 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAOI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a PE ratio of -269.10 and a beta of 3.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $137.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider David C. Kuo sold 19,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $3,331,270.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 197,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,196,326.20. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $5,717,580.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 451,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,297,233.56. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 459,324 shares of company stock worth $59,068,951 over the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter worth about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc develops and manufactures high-speed fiber-optic networking products designed to support the growing bandwidth demands of data centers, telecommunications carriers and internet content providers. The company’s core offerings include pluggable optical transceiver modules, transponders and optical components that enable data transmission at rates ranging from 1G to 400G. These products are used to facilitate long-haul, metro and intra-data center connectivity, addressing the need for scalable, low-latency and energy-efficient solutions in modern network infrastructures.

The company’s product portfolio spans small-form factor pluggable modules such as SFP+, QSFP+ and QSFP28 units, as well as more advanced form factors like CFP2 and OSFP for ultra-high-speed applications.